I used to rant a rave about UK roads, but in recent years I've noticed them resurface a lot of the ones I had issues with. In my experience they get sorted in the end so I just raise any issues I have with either the local council or highways as I feel you've got to raise it with them if you have an issue with it, otherwise what's the point in just sitting around and moaning about it?
This is coming from a motorcyclist as well, where the surface condition means a lot more. Last case for me was the A1 between Baldock and Sandy. They've recently resurfaced the roundabouts and a big stretch at Sandy, now they're tackling the Baldock to Biggleswade stretch thankfully, as this part is awful, especially for a dual carriageway. It has pot holes, worn patches, big cracks and basically a canyon up the middle between lanes which was quite dangerous.
I have one last local case that I'm going to start up soon and that's to do with a small stretch of road in Baldock that's a bit of a grey area. It's horrendous... It has masses of pot holes that go right down to the base of the road and needs completely re-doing from scratch. But every year or so a couple of blokes come along in a truck and fill the holes and by the end of the next winter, they're back to how they were. Pointless..
The problem is, I think this road is privately owned so will need some investigation work. However, it's surprising as there's an old people's care home at the top of it, they have to travel over it in their bus and cars etc and pedestrians need to dodge cars that mount the pavement avoiding said holes.
I've travelled around Europe in recent years and have seen much better of course but also much worse. Can we do better? Yes, no doubt, at a cost. But I don't feel it's as bad a many make out in comparison to many other countries.
) and you can really feel it while you cycle. Both the vibrations and the noise changes drastically.
